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Japanese Seafood Sourcing and Food Safety

Every piece of raw fish in Hong Kong passes through two sets of controls before it reaches you: import rules at the border, and licensing and handling rules in the kitchen. Most diners never think about either. They matter more here than in most cities, because Hong Kong imports almost all of its sushi fish, and because since August 2023 a large part of Japan has been off-limits as a source.

This guide explains where Hong Kong's Japanese seafood can and cannot come from, how the city licenses raw-fish sellers, what the real risks of raw seafood are, and what you can check yourself — whether you are eating out, ordering in or buying fish to prepare at home.

Three things every sushi eater in Hong Kong should know. All aquatic products from ten Japanese prefectures, including Tokyo, have been banned from import since 24 August 2023. Every other Japanese seafood consignment is radiation-tested before sale, with no sample reported above permitted levels. And any business selling or preparing sushi or sashimi must hold a specific licence endorsement or restricted food permit.

The import ban on ten Japanese prefectures

In response to the discharge of treated water from the Fukushima nuclear power station, Hong Kong's Food and Environmental Hygiene Department issued a Food Safety Order that took effect on 24 August 2023. It prohibits the import and supply of all aquatic products originating from ten metropolis and prefectures: Tokyo, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Miyagi, Chiba, Gunma, Tochigi, Niigata, Nagano and Saitama.

The scope is wide. The ban covers all live, chilled, frozen, dried or otherwise preserved aquatic products, sea salt, and unprocessed or processed seaweed, and it applies if the product was harvested, manufactured, processed or packed in those areas on or after that date. In other words, what matters is not only where a fish was caught but where it was handled.

Japanese seafood from the rest of the country is still allowed, subject to testing. Hokkaido uni, Aomori and Hokkaido scallops, and fish from Kyushu, western Japan and the Sea of Japan coast outside the listed areas can all legally reach Hong Kong counters. The government has not set a timetable for relaxing the order.

What this means for ""flown in from Tokyo"" claims. Tokyo is one of the ten banned areas, and the order covers products processed or packed there. Menu descriptions and older articles describing Hong Kong restaurants as buying fish at Tokyo's Toyosu or Tsukiji markets and flying it in may predate the August 2023 order and should not be taken at face value today. If provenance matters to you, ask the restaurant which prefecture and which route its fish now comes from.

Radiation testing on everything else

For Japanese aquatic products, sea salt and seaweed that are not banned, the Centre for Food Safety screens customs clearance documents and conducts radiological tests on every consignment before release, checking against guideline levels set by the Codex Alimentarius Commission. As at 21 April 2026 it had taken 140,038 samples, and the government reported that none had exceeded permitted radiation levels.

Enforcement is real. Over the same period the Centre identified 51 cases of suspected breach of the order by importers, and it continues to follow up individual consignments, including one reported in August 2026. Other Japanese foods are handled separately: vegetables, fruit and milk products from Fukushima remain banned, and those from four neighbouring prefectures require radiation and exporter certificates.

Licensing: who is allowed to sell raw fish

Sushi and sashimi are classified as restricted foods under Hong Kong's Food Business Regulation, which means no one may sell or prepare them for sale without specific permission. Since 1997, a restaurant preparing sushi and sashimi for eating on the premises needs a general restaurant licence with a specific endorsement; a food factory preparing them for takeaway needs a factory licence with an endorsement; and a shop that only sells them, without making them, needs a restricted food permit, with the food supplied from an approved source.

The same logic now extends online: businesses selling pre-packaged sushi and sashimi, or raw oysters, over the internet also need the relevant permit. Permits are valid for twelve months. For a diner, the practical point is simple: buy raw fish from licensed premises, and be wary of informal sellers on social media or messaging apps who cannot show a permit.

The real risks of raw seafood

Hong Kong's Centre for Food Safety classifies sushi, sashimi and raw oysters as high-risk foods, because there is no heat treatment to kill pathogens or parasites before eating. The pathogens it names include Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Listeria monocytogenes, norovirus, hepatitis A and hepatitis E, and it identifies 4°C to 60°C as the temperature danger zone in which bacteria multiply rapidly.

Parasites are a separate issue. The main concern is Anisakis, and Japan's health ministry has made clear that vinegar, salt, soy sauce and wasabi used in ordinary cooking do not kill it — which is why cured mackerel is not ""safe"" simply because it has been vinegared. The widely used industry benchmark for parasite destruction is freezing at -20°C for seven days, or -35°C until solid and then held. The detail, including why a domestic freezer should not be relied on, is in is it safe to eat raw fish: parasite and mercury risks explained, and the mackerel case specifically in aji, saba and iwashi.

Mercury

Mercury is the risk that no handling can remove. It accumulates with a fish's size and age, so large predators carry the most. Published regulatory data places bigeye tuna at about 0.689 ppm, the highest of the commonly eaten tunas, and yellowfin at about 0.354 ppm. The Centre for Food Safety advises that women who are pregnant, planning pregnancy or breastfeeding avoid large predatory fish, because methylmercury can harm the developing nervous system of a foetus and young children.

Species choice is the lever you control. Small, fast-growing fish such as aji, saba and iwashi carry far less, and the tuna comparison is in bluefin versus yellowfin tuna. Choosing lower-mercury species often lines up with choosing more sustainable ones, as set out in sustainable seafood choices when eating sushi.

Who should avoid raw seafood

Official guidance places several groups in the ""avoid raw and undercooked seafood"" category: pregnant women, young children, older adults, people who are immunocompromised, and people with liver disease, who face higher risk from certain seafood-associated pathogens. For pregnancy, listeria is the pathogen of greatest concern because it can seriously affect foetal development.

Cooked alternatives still make a good Japanese meal: eel, cooked prawn, tamago, inari, vegetable rolls, tempura rolls and grilled fish. See sushi for pregnant women, kid friendly sushi without raw fish and the wider healthy and dietary sushi guide. Anyone with a shellfish allergy faces a different problem — cross-contact at a shared counter — covered in shellfish allergy at sushi restaurants.

What ""sashimi grade"" really means

""Sashimi grade"" and ""sushi grade"" are commercial descriptions, not regulated standards. What makes fish suitable to eat raw is the supplier's handling: a documented cold chain, reliable sourcing, health certification on import and, for many species, a deliberate freezing step. A supplier that can tell you the origin, whether and how the fish was frozen, and its use-by date is more trustworthy than one that simply prints the label.

In Hong Kong, premium supermarkets such as city'super stock fish sold for raw consumption, and specialist suppliers deliver frozen sashimi-grade shellfish, typically from Hokkaido and Aomori. The questions to ask and the suppliers worth knowing are in where to buy sashimi grade fish in Hong Kong, with the retailers compared in supermarket sushi in Hong Kong and our Japanese grocery shopping guide.

Checking a restaurant yourself

You cannot inspect a kitchen, but several signals are visible from the counter. Fish should look glossy and firm rather than dull or weeping, and should smell of clean sea, never sour or ammoniated. Displays should be genuinely cold. Turnover should be fast. A chef who can name the origin of today's fish — and the prefecture, given the import rules — is buying deliberately.

Ask two questions at any counter: where is today's fish from, and when did it arrive. The answers also tell you about season, which affects quality as much as safety; see the seasonal Japanese fish calendar. For high-value items, the grade and origin matter most — see the uni guide and hotate raw versus seared, noting that searing the surface does not cook the centre. For restaurants that take sourcing seriously, start with the best sashimi in Hong Kong.

Buffets, delivery and takeaway

The formats where raw fish spends longest out of refrigeration carry the most risk. At buffets, take sashimi from busy, well-iced displays rather than static trays, eat it promptly, and skip anything that looks dry or sits above the chiller line; see all you can eat sushi. Delivery bags are insulated, not refrigerated, so choose restaurants close to you and eat on arrival; see sushi delivery in Hong Kong.

Collecting is safer than delivery, and supermarket raw fish should be the last purchase of any shopping trip. Whatever you bring home, refrigerate it at 0°C to 4°C within thirty minutes, keep it below ready-to-eat food, never defrost at room temperature, and do not keep raw fish overnight. The full handling rules are in how to store delivered sushi and leftover sashimi safely, and the station-side collection points in sushi takeaway near MTR stations.

Preparing raw fish at home

Home preparation is where most risk is introduced. Keep raw fish in a sealed container on a lower shelf, use separate boards and knives for raw and ready-to-eat food, bring fish out of the fridge only at the moment you slice it, and use seasoned rice within a few hours. Do not rely on your freezer to kill parasites; buy product that has already been treated by the supplier.

The technique is in how to slice sashimi at home and how to make sushi rice at home, and a safe party timeline in the home sushi party plan.

Common questions

Is Japanese seafood in Hong Kong safe?

Seafood from the ten banned prefectures cannot legally be imported, and every other Japanese consignment is radiation-tested before sale. As at April 2026, none of 140,038 samples had exceeded permitted levels. The ordinary raw-fish risks — pathogens, parasites and mercury — still apply.

Which Japanese areas are banned?

Tokyo, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Miyagi, Chiba, Gunma, Tochigi, Niigata, Nagano and Saitama, for aquatic products, sea salt and seaweed harvested, processed or packed there on or after 24 August 2023.

Is Hokkaido seafood allowed?

Yes. Hokkaido is not on the banned list, which is why Hokkaido uni and scallops remain widely available, subject to testing.

Do sushi restaurants need a special licence?

Yes. Sushi and sashimi are restricted foods, requiring a specific licence endorsement for restaurants and factories, or a restricted food permit for shops that only sell them.

Does wasabi or vinegar make raw fish safe?

No. Neither kills parasites. Only proper freezing or thorough cooking does.

Compiled by our editorial team from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department's Food Safety Order and licensing guidance, Centre for Food Safety press releases, programme pages and consumer advice, a written Legislative Council reply by the Secretary for Environment and Ecology dated 29 April 2026, US FDA parasite-destruction requirements as published in regulatory summaries, Japanese Ministry of Health guidance on Anisakis as cited in sushi references, and published regulatory mercury data. Last reviewed September 2026. Import controls may change; check the Centre for Food Safety for the current position. Restaurant sourcing claims are the restaurants' own and have not been independently verified. This article is general information, not medical or legal advice.

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